Squeeze bottles for storing and dispensing viscous, flowable food products such as syrups, jellies, and condiments are well known. Generally, such bottles include a container made of a plastic or other easily deformable material and define an interior cavity for receiving and storing the food product. The container may further define a neck portion disposed at one end of the container that is attached to a dispensing closure assembly. A typical dispensing closure assembly includes a cap that is threadedly connected to the neck of the container at one end, and has a single outlet tip that faces outwardly from the container at the other end. During use, the container is inverted and squeezed to dispense the viscous food product from the tip orifice onto a target food item as a directed stream.
Conventional dispensing closures define an orifice having a circular cross section sized to provide the user with flexibility to apply a desired amount of product to the target food item. A softer squeezing of the container will yield a lower mass flow rate out of the tip. Accordingly, in order to accommodate those who wish to apply only a small amount of condiment to the food product, the tips are generally designed with a small cross section. Those who desire an additional amount of condiment can squeeze harder and, typically, make several passes at the food product. This can be a time consuming and often messy procedure. Further, one squeeze may not provide a sufficient amount of pressure to dispense condiment over the length of time necessary to conduct several passes, thereby necessitating multiple squeezes and a resulting non-uniform volume of dispensed condiment across the food product.
There is a need for a discharge assistant usable in combination with a conventional container that enables one to apply a sufficient and consistent amount of an edible viscous food product, such as a condiment, to a target food item.